Licking Yellow Snow…Not Good. But Now This, Too?

Amazing story in the news today from the prestigious journal, Science. Researchers have discovered that up to 85% of snow flakes form in the atmosphere because ice crystalizes around (wait, wait, you’ll never guess it) airborne bacteria. And not just any bacteria–Pseudomonas. Doctors know Pseudomonas as a wicked, killer germ (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) with unbelievable powers to grow in anything, including sterilized salt solution. Luckily this is a different version (Pseudomonas syringae), but still.

Urk. Suddenly my childhood days, eating gobs of “snow cream,” are flashing before my eyes (recipe for snow cream–mix as much sugar as you can get to dissolve into cold milk/cream, about three tablespoons per cup. Pour over very tightly packed snow and eat. You could get more sugar to dissolve in warm milk, then cool it, but what kid has time for that when there’s snow melting on branches of pine needles?). I’m going to console myself with the fact that I ate a ton of snow and I turned out just fine.